Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-07-01

. oul.an OF Turkey to his feast. tho Fra,.o .no
y. Germany was glad to have orr T,;n;sta,
Ieorse Bancroft, sit down with him a '1l h;s
en- .. Dus teil me, ye who know most Of
o sI "o az history, what other KING ever
.i SAeu 'ne abandoned, and the fororn. and
s;t o a %teachea' and the outcast to come and
S;sa a3mI beside him? Oh, wonderful in
at the head of the darkest ollay a. 81, s' th;a
city and say: "Come! Clothes for '4 v ,n,r
rags, salve for your sores. y ,bronoS 9 for
ii ;1. eternal jeisning." A Christ that talks
axe axe mat ana acts like that, and pardons
staes siilt-ao You wonder that Stephen
stoou looking at Him? I hope to spend
e1ern'y dong the same thing. must see
MN; l must look upon that face. once
clouded with my Sin, but now radiant With
10y Parden: l want TO touch that hand that
t hnocAeo on my shackles. want to hear
snae voice which pronounced nv deliver
ance: behold Him, little children, for if
s,;,i i've 10 three score years and ten you
Will see mono so fair. Behold Him. ye
aged ones, for He only can shine throuah
the dlmness of Your failing eyosioht. Be-
MOI noid HIN, earth; behold Him, Heaven!
w nat moment when all the nations of
she saved shall gather around Christ! All
faces that way; all thrones that way. eoz-
ing on Jesus. ""'' s''"-
his worth, il all the nations knew.
pure tne Whole earth would love him too
- pass on now. and look at Stephen
stoned. The world hns always wanted to
get fld OF good men. Their very life is an
assault upon .wickedness. Out with
Dcwp With him OYER TIE precipiccs. Let
every man come up and drop a stone upon
his head. But these men did not SO much
XIII Stephen as they killed themselves.
Every stone rebounded upon them. While
these mnrderers were transfxed by the
scorn OF I'LL good men, Stephen lives in the
admiration of all Christians. Stephen
stoned; but Stephen alive. So all good
men must be peltea. All who will live
cody in Christ Jesus must suffer persecu-
tlon. 1t is no euiogy of man to say that
everybody likes him. Show me any one
who IS doing all his duty to state or church
ana 1 Will show you scores OF men who
utterly abhor him.
1t all mon speak we'll of you it is because
you are either laggard or dolt. If
steamer makes rapid progress through the
waves the water will boil and foam all
around it. Brave soldiers of Jesus Christ
will Eea- the carbines click. When see a
man with voice and money and influence all
on the right side, and some caricature him
and some sheer at him and some denounce
him, and men who pretend to be actuated
oy right motives conspire to cripple him, to
cast him out. to destroy him, l say:
stephen stoned" When see n man in
some great moral or religious reform bat
1lng against grog shops, exposing wicked
to purify the church and better the worlds
estate, and | find that the newspapers
anathemize him, and men, even good men,
oppose him and denounce him, because,
though he does good, he does not do it in
their way, say: "Stephen stoned" The
world, with infinite spite. took. after John
Frederick Oberlin, and Robert Motfat, and
Paul, and Stephen of the text. But you
notice, my friends, that while they assaulted
him they did not succeed really in killing
him. You may assault good man, but
you cannot kill him. On the day of his
| death, Stephen spoke before few people
in the sanhedrim; this Sabbath morn he
addresses all Christendom. Paul, the
apostle, stood on Mars Hill addressing a
handful of philosophers who knew not so
much about science as modern school
girl. To-day he talks to all the millions of
Christendom about the wonders of iustiti.
cation. John Wesley was howled down BY
the mob to whom he preached, and they
threw bricks at him, and they denounced
him, and jostled him. and they spat upon
him, and yet to-day, in all lands. he is
admitted to be the great father of Meth
DENTAL chair, but from that spot Of
, coagnlated blood on the floor in che box
/ of Ford's theater there spreng up the
new life of nation. Stephen stoned; but
Stephen alive.
| Pass on now, and see Stephen in his
dying prayer. His first thought was not
how the stones hurt his head, nor what
would become of his body. His first
thought was about his spirit. lord Jesus,
! receive my spirit" The murderer stand
ing on the trap door, the black cap being
i drawn over his head before the execution,
may grimace about the future; but You and
have no shame in concessing some anxiety
/ about where we are goingto come out. You
are not all body. There is within you a
soul. see it CLEAN from your eyes to-day,
Sometimes I am abashed before an audi
ence, not because come under your ply
steal eyesight, hut because I realize the
truth that stand before so many immor-
tal spirits. The probability is that your
| body will at last find a sepulture in some
I! of the cemeteries that surround this city.
| There is no doubt but that you will be able
to pillow your head under the maple, or the
| Norway spruce, or the cypress. or the BIOS
soming fir; but this spirit about which
Stephen prayed, what direction will it
take? What guide will escort it? What
gate will open to receive it? What cloud
will be cleft for its pathway? After it has
got beyond the light of our sun, will there
be torches lighted for it the rest of the way?
| Will the soul have to travel through long
deserts before it reaches the good land?
If we should lose our pathway. will there
| be castle at whose gate we may ask the
way to the city? O, this mysterious spirit
within us! 1t has two wings, but it is in a
cage now. 1t is locked fast to keep it; but
let the door of this cage open the least, and
that soul is of. Eagles wings could not
catch it. The lightnings are not swift
enough 10 take up with it. When the soul
leaves the body ii takes fifty worlds at a
bound. And have no anxiety about ii?
Have you no anxiety about it? do not
care what you do with my body when my
soul is gone, or whether you believe in
cremation or inhumation. shall sleep
lust as we'll in wrapping of sackcloth as
in satin lined with eagles down. But my
soul-before leave this house this morn
ing will find out where it is going to land.
Thank God for the intimation of my text,
that when we die Jesus takes us. That
| ..,,,o,,, oil ouoctiDps for me. What